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Wind farms in Queensland: a page of Wind in the Bush

Wind in the Bush aims to be the
most informative, comprehensive, and up-to-date pages on Australian wind
power and wind farms.
The author is not beholden to any company, lobby group, or government.
*

This page created 2008/03/10, modified 2014/06/27
Information about wind farms that I have missed, additional interesting
information,or corrections for anything that I have got wrong, would be
greatly appreciated; please give evidence.About these pages
Contact: email daveclarkecb@yahoo.com

Using this page: some hints

This and most other pages of 'Wind in the Bush' are set out like reference
books.
There is a contents list at the top of each page
and at least one index at the bottom of the page.
Use these to find the subject you want, or use CTRL F to find words or
phrases that interest you.
You can also Google search all of Ramblings.
All the main pages of 'Wind in the Bush' are listed at the top left of the
Wind Home page and each of the states' pages.

Climate change
is the greatest threat facing the world today;
wind generated electricity is one of a number of ways that we can
reduce our reliance on fossil fuel-generated electricity and therefore
reduce our greenhouse gas production and limit climate change.

In mid 2014, apart from small installations in remote locations, there was
only 12MW of operating wind power in Queensland, by far the least of any
Australian state; and there were no wind farms under construction.
(South Australia had more than 100 times the wind power of Queensland.)
That 12MW, at Windy Hill, was one of the earliest wind farms in
Australia, completed in the year 2000.

While take-up of solar PV on homes and businesses in Queensland has been
the highest in the nation, the Queensland Government has done nothing about
larger-scale solar power.

I will be pleased to hear from any reader who believes that anything in any
of these pages is incorrect or substantially incomplete.
Please send details, with appropriate references, to the email address
above.
Any suggestions on how these pages can be more informative will also be
appreciated.

Alternatively called Jalunji Wind Park or Cooktown Wind Farm

This project is proposed by a consortium of IFE Engineering and
Wind Power, Queensland (WPQ).
WPQ's managing director,
Lloyd Stumer, said that it is the best place in Queensland for a wind farm.
It is intended to be built on a 2300ha site about 15km south of Cooktown.

Summary data for Archer Point Wind Farm

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Proposed

40

2

80

Unknown

Approx. S 15.58°

E 145.31°

Lloyd Stumer has told me (email, 2010/12/16) that WPQ has always been fully
aware of the need
for a significant grid upgrade and the need for a barge landing
facility (not a port) to get the turbines in place.
WPQ has been in discussions with all the relevant stakeholders (including
all Government departments) for many years concerning these requirements.

Also known as Mareeba or Arriga Wind Farm

This project is proposed by Ratch Australia Corp. and Port
Bajool Pty Ltd.
(Ratch is 80% owned by Thai power company and 20% owned by Transfield
Services.)
If it goes ahead it will be built near Mareeba, which is 37km WSW of Cairns.
(Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund did own Ratch's share of this
wind farm, but they were taken over by Ratch Australia Corporation.)
Transfield's Net pages on what used to be its wind farms are no more, and
Ratch has not yet produced net pages.

Summary data for Mount Emerald Wind Farm

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Prefeasibility

74

2.5

185

Unknown

Approx. S 16.99°

E 145.41°

The coordinates above are those of Mareeba

I am informed that the Arriga site is "ideal ... with a long unobstructed
fetch and constant winds" and that it is on private land.
Another informant implied that the site was far from ideal and that
"There are about 80 residents living under 2km from proposed turbines".

AusPoll conducted a survey of community
attitudes to the wind farm in March 2012 and found strong support for it and
for wind power generally.

Also known as Dalby Wind Farm

Originally proposed by Investec Bank, this project was aquired by AGL
(who have a Net page on
the project) in December 2008.

If built, it will be on a 12 000ha site about 180km north-west of
Brisbane near Cooranga North, between Dalby and Kingaroy.
A map is available from
AGL's Web site.

A newsletter that AGL released in March 2011 stated that the project was
currently at stage two (first public submission period) of a six-stage
Community Infrastructure Designation process; it also said that an
Initial Assessment Report was available from the Net site.

Summary data for Coopers Gap Wind Farm

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Proposed

115

2 to 4

Approx. 350

Unknown

Approx. S -26.74°

E 151.39°

The number and capacity of turbines was extracted from AGL's
net site on 2011/04/05

The ABC on-line news reported that Mayor of Dalby Regional Council said
that the landholders would be paid $10 000 per turbine per year.
The Queensland Sunday Mail carried an article on 2011/04/03 that gave a
figure of "up to $6000 a year per turbine".

Allco Financial Services proposed that this wind farm be built
40km north of Toowoomba.
Rights to the project were acquired by AGL Energy Limited not long before
Allco called in administators in November 2008.
The farm will cover a ridgeline area of approximately 1000ha.

Summary data for Crows Nest Wind Farm

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat.

Long.

Approved

75

2.1?

158?

Unknown

Approx. S 27.23°

E 151.96°

It was reported by Louise O'Keeffe in
The Chronicle, 2009/01/08,
that "AGL is continuing to develop the project".
Another article in The Chronicle (Stuart Cumming, 2011/02/02) stated that
"although a development application had lapsed, there were plans for it
to be resubmitted".

On 2009/06/18 AGL announced that they had bought the rights "to develop
a smaller wind farm in Queensland which would allow AGL to expand its
existing wind farm development at Crows Nest near Toowoomba, by 20
turbines.
This would increase the potential capacity of Crow's Nest to
approximately 200MW".

Summary data for Crows Nest stage 2

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Proposed

20

2.1?

42?

Unknown

It is possible that the Transfield development that AGL bought to extend
Crows Nest is
Crediton or
High Road Wind Farm.

Proposed by Infigen this project has been given in-principle support by
the local council.
The wind farm is proposed to be built on the Sirron Cattle Station between
Forsayth and Mt Surprise.
There were no objections to the project.
(Reported in the Cairns Post on 2012/10/31.)

Transfield Services Infrastructure Fund did own this wind farm, but they were
taken over by
Ratch Australia Corporation
(80% owned by Thai power company and 20% owned by Transfield Services).
Transfield's Net pages on what used to be its wind farms are no more.

It is proposed that the farm will be in the Evelyn area, about 10km north
of Ravenshoe and 25km south of Atherton in North Queensland and it is
expected to cost around $90 million.
On the map the wind farm will be where Evelyn is shown
and extend above that on the left side of the Kennedy Highway (brown on
the map) and across to the green area.

Transfield Services acquired the High Road Wind Farm from Stanwell
Corporation in December 2007.
Stanwell Corporation undertook a thorough site suitability assessment to
identify a preferred location for the proposed wind farm.
The High Road site was chosen because of:

Transfield expect the wind farm to operate for 20 to 30 years and say that
if and when it is decommissioned the site will be returned to its original
land use.

Summary data, High Road Wind Farm

Status

# Turbines

MW each

Total MW

Construction date

Lat

Long

Approved

17

2.2

37.4

Unknown

S 17.48°

E 145.46°

Approved by Tablelands Regional Council June 2011, but

On 2012/02/08 I received the following from someone who wishes not to be
named:

"In the current layout, the wind farm is unable to comply with Queensland
noise legislation and the development is at a stalemate (the developer
attempting to negotiate more lenient noise conditions and the Council unable
to comply for obvious legal reasons).
It is noted that at least 6 residences are located under 1000m from turbines,
with one family (non-host) only 470 metres away from proposed turbines.
It's not surprising then that the developer cannot comply."

Also known as Kennedy Wind Farm

This was a major part of a big renewable energy initiative called the Copper
String project, but with Xstrata and the present government refusing to
support Copper String, this wind farm seems unlikely to procede.

This farm has been proposed by WindLab, who have a
Net page about it.
If built it will be on the Great Dividing Range about 290km SW of Townsville.
It will form an important
part of a proposed Clean Energy Corridor detailed on
a media release, apparently from Bob Katter (Federal Member for Kennedy),
but also with Federal Minister Ferguson's name on it, dated November 2010.

"The Northern Australian Clean Energy Corridor proposal is a
series of clean energy power generators to be connected by
an AC transmission link from Mt Isa to Townsville – to join
North West Queensland (NW Qld) to the National Grid"

In addition to the wind farm, the project will pick up power from several
bio-fuel power stations, "biomass conversion power stations", a hydro
and two solar power stations (one of which is combined with bio-fuel).
So far as I know, all of these power projects are only proposals at the
present.

In June 2011 I received information that "Leighton Contractors and CuString
said their Copper String project to build a $1.5 billion, 720km high-voltage
transmission link between Townsville and Mount Isa now has initial
agreements with energy users, which are believed to include Anglo-Swiss
miner Xstrata, owner of Mount Isa Mines."
The Copper String project has since been scrapped (information May 2012).

This wind farm is near Ravenshoe on the Atherton Tablelands.
Previously owned by Stanwell Corporation, then Transfield Infrastructure
Fund; it is now owned by Ratch Australia Corp.
(Ratch is 80% owned by Thai power company and 20% owned by Transfield
Services.)

On 2012/08/02 Tony Stickey wrote an article in the
Cairns Post stating the the wind farm operator was facing legal action
over noise and might have to close down three turbines overnight.

The net pages on TIF and Transfield's page on Windy Hill Wind Farm are no
more.

Summary data on Windy Hill

Status

# Turbines

Manufacturer

Model

MW each

Total MW

Commissioned

Lat.

Long.

Operating

20

Enercon

E40

0.6

12

2000

S 17.59°

E 145.53°

Further information on Windy Hill
From PowerCorp, who
designed and constructed the wind farm

In addition to the wind farms detailed above many others have been proposed
(table below).

If and when any of these proposed wind farms look likely to be built,
and as I get more information, I
will write them up in more detail.
If any readers have information concerning these I would appreciate
a note, my email address is at the top of this page.

Until a wind farm gets at least to the point where an application for
approval has been submitted to the relevant authority it may be little
more than wishfull thinking and is not worth covering in more detail than
that below.

Wind farms that have been proposed in Queensland

Some of the information in this table was extracted from Wikipedia,
some from ABARE, some from the Net generally.